Chapter 232

Chapter 313: The Beginning of the End

Time had constricted and the air was stifled with an apprehension that was disarming.

In the short span of haste, the carriage had ridden at a neck-breaking speed across the dust-blown path and the green meadows. Through the duration of the journey, Lord Akash had attempted to explain the account conveyed by the servant but Lord Arnav had barely caught a word. There was this eerie buzzing sound inside of his head and he was concentrating on it.

Lord Akash swallowed anxiously, his eyes unblinkingly on his brother. He had betrayed no signs of having heard anything he'd narrated to him.

For the first time, Lord Arnav was numb and impassive, articulating neither anger nor worry, nor any kind of mortal emotion upon his visage. He sat there, staring blankly at the floor of the carriage.

But Lord Akash knew he was not without knowledge of the incident. He had, it seemed, gone into a strange kind of shock that dispelled his every reaction to it. He sat there, his face calm but deathly pale. His hands trembled but he had fisted them on his knees. The vacant look in his eyes spoke enough to reveal that a bitter storm was brewing inside of hm.

When the miserable carriage had rumbled up the hill and slid to an urgent halt before the Castle doors, Lord Arnav awakened as though from a momentary trance and, kicking the door open, stepped out of carriage.

In the flick of a moment, his transitory numbness had transformed back to his characteristic wrath.

Storming up the marble steps, unheeded by his following brother, he strode furiously into the Castle and beheld the entire family gathered in the living room, their faces distraught with worry.

They had just been informed of the news by JayPrakash who was presently departing to fetch his brothers from the Industry but halted on sighting the fierce arrival of his Master and the Second Lord.

Pausing suddenly in his passage into the living room, Lord Arnav nearly chocked on sighting his sister's anguish. Lady Anjali sat crumpled on the floor, wailing hysterically, while the Elder Lord Manohar stood over her in futile consolation. Hot tears burned in Lord Arnav's eyes and he looked away, tormented by the sight that he vividly recalled as an echo of another fateful night. Everything was breaking apart again, everything that mattered to them being wrenched from their hearts... He fisted his hands at his side, forcibly dousing the images from his mind.

Lord Akash had rushed to his wife's side where she sat remorsefully on the lounger. Payal was weeping in despair and Lady Manorama watched her worriedly.

A pale Lady Deviyani came up to her grandson and grasped his elbow by her trembling hand, "Have you news of them? Where are they? Who are those men that OmPrakash described?"

Grief swelled inside of him, but Lord Arnav produced a dagger glare powerful enough to burn everyone he directed his gaze at.

All at once, Lady Anjali was beside him, "Chotey!! My child is gone! She has been taken away!!"

Lord Arnav looked at his sister, dismayed by the devastation written on her face.

He could feel his bold walls breaking, but he stood his ground.

Turning to the butler, who stood aside (silently watching over them while praying earnestly for the safety of the lost ones), Lord Arnav ordered, "Send men immediately to both the Villages and tell them to scour the lands until they are found."

The butler bowed respectfully, "I had already sent men, sire. But they have returned in vain."

"SEND THEM AGAIN!!" yelled Lord Arnav, startling everyone, "Send more men!!! Send them to every end of Arhasia!! Leave no corner untried and no stone unturned!"

"Brother," Lord Akash spoke, concerned for him, "I will personally go with these men and track down that imposter named Persus! Kushiji and the children are undoubtedly -"

"I will come with you, Akash!" Lady Anjali announced in sudden fervour, earning Lord Arnav's unyielding glower, "No, Di! You will stay here. I will not have you wandering about-"

Lady Anjali was frantic, "I insist on coming! My child is taken prisoner!!! How do you suppose I am to stay here while she-"

"You will stay here and that's final!" asserted Lord Arnav.

"You cannot hold me against my will!" proclaimed Lady Anjali, almost manically, "I will go! I will find my child!"

"You will go nowhere!" admonished Lord Arnav haughtily, "Look what has happened! None of this would have if Kushi had stayed in this place like I told her to. Why can't you women ever understand the reason for my-"

"You make home feel like prison!!" yelled Lady Anjali angrily, and then she clasped her hands around his and pleaded through ceaseless tears, "Let me go, Chotey. Let me go find my child."

Tears stifled Lord Arnav's throat and he hesitated for a moment. Then, he withdrew his hands from her grasp and frowned at the wall, "You will stay here, Di. As will everyone else in this family. Which includes you too." This time he directed his stern gaze at Lord Akash whose lips parted to refute but Lord Arnav, with an ultimatum wave of his hand, stipulated, "I need you here, to guard the Castle and this family, in case peril seeks this abode next."

Wisely silent, Lord Akash nodded once, his hand still holding onto his wife's trembling one.

Lady Anjali had a wrecked look on her face and she stared in dejected anger at her brother, who gave her one last emphatic look and then turned away, afraid he would lose his fixed courage if he looked at her a second longer.

He nodded at the butler, who bowed in affirmation of his silently made request to take care of the family, and then strolled for the Castle doors.

He had barely taken two steps when Lord Akash called out, "Brother, wait."

Impatient, Lord Arnav frowned over his shoulder but noticing the concern on Lord Akash's face, chose to spare a moment.

Lord Akash stepped towards him but his words could be heard clearly by all ears in the deathly silence of the living room, "I think you should head in the direction of where the ship is marooned. That is perhaps their intention."

Lord Arnav nodded, the thought had not failed to occur to him, "That is where I am headed, Akash." He would have proceeded on, but a new thought crossed his mind. He looked at Lord Akash and suggested importantly, "In the meantime, when you send men to search the villages and the market again, tell them to track down that disgraceful General." He could sense his Di's tear-stricken face get alarmed and stare in his direction, but he ignored her as he addressed his brother, "He is behind this, for certain. If you find him, you are bound to find the rest of them."

Lord Akash nodded, uncertain of what reply to accord but Lord Arnav had already strode out of the miserable castle and out into the evening air.

As he walked across the lawn, he caught from the corner of his eye JayPrakash rushing in the direction of the stable. He yelled out to him, "Release my horse!!"

The command sent JayPrakash's sprinting feet to a fierce gallop and within a bolting couple of seconds, he had slipped into the stable.

Just as Lord Arnav stepped indomitably up the grassy lawn to the stone path that led to the gate, the stable doors burst open and the dark stallion cantered across the garden towards his strapping Master.

From the window of the living room, Payal watched Lord Arnav leap onto Shadow's back, trot onward and quickly fade into the distance through the dark gates that imprisoned the inhabitants of the Castle.

Sighing, she looked on despondently, wishing there was something she could do to help with the matters. She was helpless only to pray for the safety of her dear sister, Ram and little Princess.

Her husband was standing beside her, watching the departing scene with her, but his mind was immersed in the sounds of Lady Anjali's wails echoing from the dining hall, a woman lost of her husband and now of her only child. He was too distracted by the agony prevailing in the room that he didn't realize his wife's attention had urgently turned to him.

It was only when she jolted him by his arms that he snapped out of his thoughts and found himself staring at her imperious expression.

"What is it?" Lord Akash asked in concern but Payal's eyes lit with solemn animation, "I know what we can do!"

"What-?" Lord Akash was confused but Payal was suddenly turning aside and speeding for the stairs.

"Payal, slow down!" called out her husband after her, worried if the shock had gotten to her senses and disabled her sanity.

But Payal did not pause as she climbed up the stairs, lifting the sides of her gown as her mind went into a frenzy of calculations.

Her husband followed close at her heels, but she was too fast for him and, by the time he'd raced up the stairs, across the landing, down the corridor, and into their room, Payal was already rushing out of it, hastily thrusting a parchment into an envelope.

She almost collided with him at the doorway and he held her gently by the shoulders, frowning at her with worry, "What do you think you are doing, Payal! Have you forgotten you are carrying, woman?!"

Payal's cheeks were flushed with the excitement of her thoughts and, of course, with the hasty running she had just administered in the state that she was in.

Panting slightly, she slapped the envelope on her husband's chest, "As quickly as you can, my love, send this by the swiftest messenger in Arhasia!"

"What is it?" Lord Akash asked confusedly, holding the envelope and squinting with difficulty in his attempt to read the urgently scrawled address, "Who is it for?"

"Are you going to stand here and waste your breath on questions?!!" Payal huffed impatiently, "Hastily, my man! Hastily!! Do you not see we have no time?!"

Afraid of unnerving his wife in the state she was in, Lord Akash swallowed the remaining torrent of his queries and, turning on his heel, rushed out to mete out his wife's command.

As she stood on the upstairs landing, watching him run across the living room and out the Castle doors, Payal clasped her hands and breathed out a prayer. Please, Goddess Mother, bring us a miracle.